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What did grinding stones grind? New light on Early Neolithic subsistence economy in the Middle Yellow River Valley, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Li Liu ,
Judith Field ,
Richard Fullagar ,
Sheahan Bestel ,
Xingcan Chen  and
Xiaolin Ma
Li Liu
Affiliation:
Archaeology Program, School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia
Judith Field
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Richard Fullagar
Affiliation:
Scarp Archaeology, P.O. Box 7241, South Sydney Hub, NSW 2015, Australia; Centre for Archaeological Science (CAS), School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Sheahan Bestel
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
Xingcan Chen
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 27 Wangfujing Dajie, Beijing, P.R. China 100710
Xiaolin Ma
Affiliation:
Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, No. 9 Longhaibeisan Street, Zhengzhou, P.R. China 450000
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Abstract

Grinding stones have provided a convenient proxy for the arrival of agriculture in Neolithic China. Not any more. Thanks to high-precision analyses of use-wear and starch residue, the authors show that early Neolithic people were mainly using these stones to process acorns. This defines a new stage in the long transition of food production from hunter-gatherer to farmer.

Keywords

ChinaNeolithicgrinding stonesquernsmilletacornsagriculture
Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 325 , September 2010 , pp. 816 - 833
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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